When President Obama announced an unprecedented effort by the EPA to strong-arm states into adopting cap-and-trade, he made the announcement not by focusing on the benefits of reducing greenhouse gas emissions, but rather on the so-called co-benefits that closing coal plants will have on particulate matter, which is already tightly regulated. These purported co-benefits are based on two secret studies that have never been publicly validated. Amazingly, the architect of this co-benefits strategy is a long-time EPA staffer named John Beale, now known as federal inmate number 33005-016 and locked up for fraud at Cumberland Federal Correctional Institution.

When Robert Scott criticized standardized testing and said that Common Core would nationalize schools, he took heat from both Sec. Arne Duncan and Texas business lobbyist Bill Hammond, who called Scott a "cheerleader for mediocrity." But two years later, those are the ones only who still think Scott was wrong. With states abandoning Common Core and advocates of high-stakes testing now criticizing its misuse, it's time to admit that Scott was right all along.

The refrain has echoed across the globe our entire lives. "The World Cup is the most exciting sporting event on the face of the planet. Bigger than the Super Bowl, Stanley Cup and World Series combined and go ahead, throw in the next Star Wars movie especially with Carrie Fischer and Harrison Ford dragging their walkers through it."

A massive Earthquake rolled through the Republican Establishment after Eric Cantor became the 1st sitting House Majority Leader to lose in a primary since, well... ever. Going back to 1899, the 19th Century. Back when Mugwumps bought buggy whips and the Emperor of Russian lunched with the Viceroy of India.

Usually state parties nominate candidates at conventions, activists adopt a pre-approved platform and everyone goes home happy. What happened in Fort Worth was a combination of a demolition derby and an inauguration. Rick Perry may have kicked off the weekend with a well-regarded speech, but there was a new king when delegates left town. Ted Cruz is now the head of the He-Man Woman-Gay-Immigrant-Science-Logic Hater's Club formerly known as the Republican Party of Texas. Long may he reign.

In 2006, I invited the late General Bill Odom to address my Thursday Congressional luncheon group. Gen. Odom, a former NSA director, called the Iraq war "the greatest strategic disaster in American history," and told the surprised audience that he could not understand why Congress had not impeached the president for pushing this disaster on the United States. History continues to prove the General's assessment absolutely correct.

The Wizard of Oz" made Kansas synonymous with tornadoes. But it took the Topeka tornado of June 1966 to bring this Hollywood fiction to reality. That twister was, at the time, said to be the most costly tornado in our country's history.